Wednesday

May 25, 2016 at 5:28 PMMay 25, 2016 at 6:51 PM

Singing songs and reciting prayers as their legs dangled over a deep trench, 16 clergy members were arrested while protesting Spectra Energy’s West Roxbury Lateral gas pipeline along Grove Street in West Roxbury on Wednesday.

Participating religious denominations included American Baptist, Buddhist, Episcopal, Hindu, Jewish, Presbyterian, United Church of Christ, and Unitarian Universalist.

For months and months environmental activists and neighbors have been waving anti-pipeline signs outside the construction sites, some of which sit next to the West Roxbury Crushed Stone quarry where active blasting continues.

However, participating clergy members said they felt enough is enough, and decided to take action in the ongoing fight against the West Roxbury Lateral, a 5-mile section of the larger Algonquin Incremental Market pipeline (AIM).

“The role of the clergy is to envision a better world, and in that world we don’t need fossil fuel,” said Jim Antal, United Church of Christ conference minister for the state.

The Framingham resident said he’s been arrested before while working to protect the environment for the last 10 years and has the support of his congregation to continue his efforts.

With some vehicles beeping their support, the group of about 80-90 protesters marched with their signs and banners down Grove Street, singing and praying for the health and well being of the construction workers and police. The workers never engaged with the protesters and some said they were not allowed to speak to the media. However, many stood nearby and watched and listened to the clergy members who sat at the gaping hole in the street.

When asked for their response to the protest, Spectra spokeswoman Marylee Hanley said, “Algonquin Gas Transmission respects the right of individuals to peacefully protest and express their positions. We continue to implore peaceful protestors not to place themselves in an unsafe situation.

“We do not condone actions that directly interfere with Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) authorized activities for the Algonquin Incremental Market (AIM) Project,” said Hanley. “Further, we do not condone actions that take critical public safety first responders away from their duties, thus placing citizens dependent on their assistance at risk.”

Rev. Mariama White-Hammond, of Jamaica Plain’s Bethel AME Church, said she decided to participate in the action because, “At some point you have to put your foot down and say this is wrong.”

The Dorchester resident and members of her congregation were scared after learning about the Spectra Energy pipeline explosion near Pittsburgh in the beginning of May. Considering how close the quarry is to her church, she and many of her parishioners found the situation quite jarring.

“This just doesn’t make sense,” to have the pipeline so close to active blasting, she said.

“Spectra’s assessment of risk is different than my assessment of risk,” said White-Hammond, who added she did not trust Spectra.

White-Hammond said she is not against technology and economic growth, but emphasized, “Life comes first.”

By 9:50 a.m., a Boston Police officer quietly warned the protesters that they had 5 more minutes before arrests would start, and the clergy thanked him.

Dressed in the traditional 18th century garb of the Bedford Minuteman Company, Rev. John Gibbons, chaplain of the company as well as the senior minister at the First Parish in Bedford, gave a rousing speech standing beside the trench.

“No gasification without representation,” he yelled, bringing a moment of levity to the serious situation.

As the arrests began quietly at 10 a.m., Grove Street resident Sonja J. Dixon, who lives with her mother, said they fear an explosion. As a former construction worker, she said she was concerned about the safety of the project.

Watching the arrests, Dixon said she was surprised and impressed by the clergy members’ actions.

“It’s unity, it’s about safety and all cultures coming together,” she said.

The following clergy members were arrested (although many others were present):